‘VARIOUS ARTISTS’ – ‘PUB IN THE PARK’, PRESTON PARK, BRIGHTON 14-16.7.23
The biggest foodie event of the year, ‘Pub In The Park’, took place in Brighton’s Preston Park over last weekend. The event was hosted by celebrity chef Tom Kerridge. ‘Pub In The Park’ brings together award-winning restaurants, chefs and delicious food and live music.
Headlining the music stage this year were Sugababes, The Brand New Heavies, Happy Mondays, and Gabrielle. Brighton and Hove News Music were there for all four sessions over the three days in order to sample the many music artists and bands performing as well as the food.
The entertainment started at each session before the gates were even opened with a singer performing an acoustic set for the people queuing. Tom Kerridge welcomed everybody at the start of each session, with a brief explanation on what was on offer inside. So without delay let’s find out what was on the ‘Pub In The Park’ musical menu.
Session 1- Friday 14th July:
The rain for Friday evening’s first session of ‘Pub In The Park’ didn’t dampen spirits. Tom joked in his welcome, that inside “through the gates it never rains”. It did, quite heavily.
Soul II Soul (6:15pm – 7:00pm)
First up on the music stage were Soul II Soul. The musical Soundsystem formed by Jazzy B in London in 1988 which combines soul, R&B, and reggae rock to create their distinctive dance sounds. The two-time Grammy Award winners opened with ‘Fairplay’ from the album ‘Club Classics Volume 1’, which brought people out from the shelter of the beer tent and restaurant food stalls to the main stage area. Two covers followed ‘Ghetto Heaven’ by The Family Stand and ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ the Prince song recorded by Sinead O’Connor.
Back to their own material, up next was ‘Keep On Moving’. Jazzy B asked if people were “ready to rock n soul” before ‘A Dream’s A Dream’. There were two lead singers, who took the first and last part of the set and three backing singers for Soul II Soul’s live performance. For ‘Get A Life’ Jazzy B came out from behind the decks to take lead vocals. ‘Back To Life’ was one of the many set highlights. Soul II Soul was a great start to the music at ‘Pub In The Park’, and their classic dance tunes were enjoyed by those dancing in the rain and those huddled watching from the beer tent.
Judge Jules (7:30pm – 8:30pm)
Next up was British dance music DJ and record producer Judge Jules, who has a slot on Kisstory radio station. There was heavy rain, when Judge Jules came on stage wearing a Public Enemy T-shirt. The nineties and noughties house anthems got the crowd dancing, some under umbrellas. At the end of the set Judge Jules took selfies and mobile phone pics of the crowd, and said he preferred to be in Brighton in the rain than the Balearics at 41 degrees. It was far from Mediterranean weather, but his set went down well with the damp, but happy, Brighton crowd. After Judge Jules’s set, two people mopped up the stage before the night’s headliners. That wouldn’t have been necessary in Ibiza.
Sugababes (9:00pm – 10:00pm)
Headlining on Friday night were Sugababes. They are one of the most successful English female groups with six number-one singles and five UK top ten albums. It was the original line up: Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy. Introduced with “Welcome the angels with dirty faces” (a reference to the title of one of their albums), there was a big cheer as they came on stage to the Gary Numan introduction of ‘Freak Like Me’. The hits continued with ‘Red Dress’ and ‘Hole In The Head’. The Sugababes slowed the tempo with ‘Too Lost In You’ (from the film ‘Love Actually’) and ‘Flatline’. The dancing by the three Sugababes spread to the large crowd. The synchronised moves of Keisha, Mutya and Siobhán even extended to sitting in identical posture on the stools for the start of ‘Ugly’.
Sugababes took it “all the way back to the beginning” with ‘Overload’. Given the weather ‘Flowers’ was a good choice with its lyric “I’ll bring you flowers in the pouring rain”. The rain was easing off, but there was no let-up in the hits, which continued with ‘Push The Button’, ‘In The Middle’ and ‘Round Round’. A section of the crowd started a chant of “I say Suga you say Babes”. The call and reply of “Suga” “Babes” caught on. So it was no surprise that when the Sugababes asked “Can we do one more song for you guys?”, there was a huge cheers. Sugababes closed a thoroughly entertaining set with ‘About You Now’. Pop music often gets looked down on by some over serious music fans. It shouldn’t, especially when it’s done as well as Sugababes did at ‘Pub In The Park’.
Session 2 – Saturday 15th July (Afternoon):
The rain on Friday had stopped by Saturday’s session, but was replaced by strong winds.
Toploader (12:40pm – 1:25pm)
First on stage on Saturday was rock band Toploader from Eastbourne. Their sunny pop sound was accompanied by plenty of hand clapping during the songs and applause after them. Early in the set vocalist Joseph Washbourn teased the crowd saying “We’re going to sing you a song about the moon. No, not that at one, we’re only four songs in.” That moon song was a good version of ‘Whole Of The Moon’ by The Waterboys. They also included ‘Sledgehammer’ by Peter Gabriel. The biggest cheer during Toploader’s set was for the intro to their last song ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’, the big hit everybody had been waiting for. Many people were “filming in the sunlight” on their phones, but after initial filming most were singing and dancing in the sunlight.
Danny Jones and Tom Kerridge (1:25pm – 1:55pm)
A new feature to the ‘Pub In The Park’ festival was “Rock ‘n’ Roll Cooking”. Donning his chef’s apron with Tom Kerridge at the firepit was Danny Jones of McFly. Having appeared on Celebrity MasterChef, Danny looked very competent cooking his slow cooked leg of lamb. Their double act drew a bigger crowd than some of the music artists.
mcfly.lnk.to/PowerToPlay
tomkerridge.com
Norman Jay (1:40pm – 2:59pm)
At festivals there are always inevitable clashes. Norman Jay’s DJ set overlapped with Tom Kerridge’s cooking demo and book signing, which meant the crowd built slowly through his performance. Perfect for an early Saturday afternoon time slot, Norman Jay’s set included relaxing old-school soul tunes. There were good mixes of Jackson 5, Soft Cell with soul and reggae. Due to the wind, the table cloth kept blowing onto the decks, but Norman Jay kept the beats going and the crowd was well entertained.
The Brand New Heavies (3:30pm – 4:30pm)
The final act on the Saturday afternoon session was The Brand New Heavies, an acid jazz and funk group formed in 1985. Most noticeable was guitarists Simon Bartholomew’s bling with large gold chains and his flamboyant outfit. Their song ‘Midnight At The Oasis’ was a highlight of the set as were Angela Ricci’s vocals. It wasn’t a packed crowd, but most seemed to enjoy The Brand New Heavies.
Session 3 – Saturday 15th July (Evening):
After the afternoon crowd left and the site tidied up, we were let back in for the evening session.
Stereo MCs (6:30pm – 7:15pm)
Stereo MCs, an English hip hop/electronic dance group, were first up for the evening session. They had the fans dancing from the start. It wasn’t long before vocalist Rob B was on the big monitor at the front of the stage. There was a real contrast in the singing style of the two vocalists as well as dance moves. While Rob would strike a pose while singing, the female vocalist was a much more fluid dancer. Their set picked up towards the end with the big hits ‘Connected’ and ‘Step It Up’, leaving the fans shouting for more at the end.
www.instagram.com/stereomcsmusic
Example (7:30pm – 8:30pm)
Example provided the most lively and energetic set of the whole weekend. Elliot Gleave, better known by his stage name Example, is an English musician, singer, songwriter, rapper and record producer. (His name is due to his initials being E.G.) His performance singing and rapping over a backing DJ was engaging, getting the crowd jumping and singing along. While admittedly not to my taste, I was in a very small minority. Even some of the nearby stall holders could be seen dancing along to Example. The crowd loved his set, happy to wave their arms and jump as instructed. It certainly worked as a festival performance.
Happy Mondays (9:00pm – 10:00pm)
Saturday night’s headliners were Happy Mondays. One of the most influential groups of the 80s and 90s. They fused the UK’s indie and acid house scenes to help create the ‘Madchester’ sound.
With the band and singer Rowetta on stage, there was a delay before frontman Shaun Ryder and Bez came on. Happy Mondays opened their set with ‘Kinky Afro’. Between most songs, Shaun would pick up the setlist and read it as if he hadn’t seen it before, often asking who’d put this or that song in. Unfortunately, this disrupted the flow of the performance. Rowetta’s singing was the highlight of the Happy Mondays set.
She also did a good job of holding the band’s performance together. It did pick up with fans favourites ‘Loose Fit’, ‘Hallelujah’, and ‘Twenty Four Hour Party People’, and in particular on ‘Step On’. After a prolonged discussion about doing another song, they closed their set and Saturday night with ‘Mad Cyril’. Having seen Happy Mondays a few times back in the 1990’s, this wasn’t one of their best performances, but many fans in the crowd seemed happy with The Mondays.
www.happymondaysofficial.co.uk
Session 4 – Sunday 16th July:
Sunday’s session had much more of a family feel about it.
Travel problems across the city following the previous night’s fire at The Royal Albion Hotel meant that I arrived at the very end of The Fundamentals set, which had run from 1:15pm to 1:45pm.
Two Weeks In Nashville (2:15pm – 2:45pm)
The stage was set up for Two Weeks In Nashville with big initials letters of the band’s name, TWIN. While eye-catching, their enthusiastic drummer was a little lost behind the W and I. Their soft rock sound had an American feel, which would be exemplified by the band’s name. Two Weeks In Nashville, discovering their sound and identity whilst on a writing trip to Nashville. Their set included a cover of ‘White Wedding’ by Billy Idol. Their own material such as ‘Overdose’ and new single ‘Best Thing I Ever Had’ also went down with the early afternoon audience.
Craig Charles (3:15pm – 4:15pm)
BBC Radio 6 Music DJ, actor, presenter and comedian, Craig Charles was the DJ on the Sunday of ‘Pub In The Park’. Craig announced “This is how we roll. We play funk. We play soul.”. He played a mix of classic funk and soul tunes, mixing tracks like ‘Boogie Wonderland’, ‘Lost in Music’, ‘Groove Is In The Heart’, ‘Get Lucky’ and a bit of reggae with ‘Could You Be Loved’. His set worked for the cross generation mix of the afternoon audience. There were grandparents dancing with their grandchildren. Even security staff were dancing along.
Dodgy (4:45pm – 5:30pm)
The penultimate band of the weekend was Dodgy, who rose to prominence during the Britpop era of the 1990s. Their guitar indie pop on tunes such as ‘Staying Out For The Summer’ went down with the crowd. Later there was a more west coast USA psychedelic rock sound to their music. Dodgy’s biggest hit ‘Good Enough’ got more people up from their picnic blankets to dance and sing. Dodgy closed a pleasing set with ‘Grassman’.
Gabrielle (6:00pm – 7:00pm)
Closing Sunday evening and the whole of ‘Pub In The Park’ festival was R&B and soul singer Gabrielle. The Brit award and MOBO award winner was celebrating 30 years since her first single ‘Dreams’ went to number 1. Gabrielle joined her band and two backing singers on stage and started her set with ‘There’s Nothing I Won’t Do For You’ from ‘Rise’. She upped the tempo and dancing with the audience with ‘When A Woman’ introduced as “a booty shaker”. ‘Give Me A Little More Time’ and ‘Sunshine’ were another two obvious crowd pleasers with people singing along. Gabrielle did a lot of talking between songs telling stories from her career and the songs themselves. By her own admission she did get carried away, explaining a song that wasn’t even on the setlist. To quote her “Gab by name. Gab by nature.”
After 25 minutes she left the stage to her backing singers Miren and Louise for two songs ‘Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)’ and ‘Free (Do What U Want)’ by Pete Tong. Both singers did a great job stepping up to lead vocals, before Gabrielle returned. Unsurprisingly ‘Rise’ got a big cheer as announced. Gabrielle admitted her crush on actor Colin Firth (she’s probably not alone there) before ‘Out Of Reach’ from ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’.
Gabrielle closed her set and ‘Pub In The Park’ with her debut single ‘Dreams’. There were many more backing singers in the crowd for this final number. Gabrielle’s performance was a great end to the music with great classic tunes sung with an amazing voice.
The Food:
A review of ‘Pub In The Park’ wouldn’t be complete without a mention of the food on offer. With this in mind, Brighton and Hove News Music team took it upon themselves to try these out between the music:
Tom Kerridge’s The Hand and Flowers served a very special curry dog topped with Bombay mix. The Kentish Hare’s excellent salt and pepper squid sold out within two days. Brindisa’s Spanish tapas, especially the croquettes and chorizo, stood out.
Local Brighton restaurants were represented. Hove’s Cin Cin with its modern take on Italian food was popular as people tested their claim to the world’s best mac n cheese. The burgers of Patty Guy were very popular and tasty. The much-plugged Onion Bhaji by Brighton’s Chilli Pickle more than lived up to the praise it got from Tom Kerridge at ‘Pub In The Park’.
In conclusion, ‘Pub In The Park’ was a great experience for both the music for the ears and food for the taste buds.
